Cranberry Pecan Cheese Ball

12 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Refrigerate 5 hours
Total Time 5 hours 10 minutes

Cranberry Pecan Cheese Ball is a great snack for a holiday party. Serve the soft creamy, savory, and sweet cheeseball with crackers to share!

This is the perfect Appetizer to put out at the next party you are hosting. It’s similar to our classic Cheese Ball Recipe, but with even more flavor and texture from the dried cranberries and green onions.

Cranberry Pecan Cheese Ball on serving tray with crackers and cut open

CRANBERRY PECAN CHEESE BALL

Cheese Balls are a classic party dish. The ball of cheese makes the perfect creamy, rich recipe for dipping. It’s great to share and always delicious. Put it out on a party tray along with all your favorite crackers and watch how fast your guests eat it up. 

The base recipe for cheese balls are made with simple ingredients like cream cheese and shredded cheese. Then from there you can add different kinds of mix-ins, flavors, and coating. For this recipe, we’ve added pecans, cranberries, garlic, and green onions for a mostly savory flavor. There are also sweeter versions that are crowd favorites. Try our Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheese Ball or Chocolate Oreo Cheese Ball for more of a dessert-like appetizer. 

For those sweeter cheese balls, you can use Oreos and other cookies as the dippers, but with this Pecan Cranberry Cheese Ball you should use assorted crackers and other savory ones. The cheese ball would taste great with buttery club crackers, Ritz crackers, wheat crackers, or pretzel sticks.

Cranberry Pecan Cheese Ball Collage

HOLIDAY APPETIZERS

KEY INGREDIENTS IN CRANBERRY PECAN CHEESE BALL

  • Cream cheese: The cream cheese makes the perfect base for this appetizer. It’s soft enough to mix smoothly with the other ingredients and to use as a dip, but it still has enough structure to form into a ball and hold up throughout your party. 
  • White cheddar: The shredded cheese adds the perfect classic, cheesy flavor to the tangy cream cheese. Depending on your preference you can use mild or sharp cheddar cheese. 
  • Cranberries: Dried cranberries add beautiful red color to the cheese ball. They also add a little sweetness but are tart enough that their flavor isn’t too sugary against the other savory ingredients. 
  • Pecans: The chopped pecans are mixed into the filling and used as an outer coating for the cheese ball. They add a nice crunchy texture to the creamy dish. 

TIPS FOR MAKING CRANBERRY PECAN CHEESE BALL

  • Prep time: Make sure you give the cream cheese enough time to soften at room temperature so that it can easily blend with the other ingredients. 
  • Mix: Add the 8 ounces cream cheese, white cheddar cheese, cranberries, ½ cup pecans, green onion, and garlic powder to your stand mixer. Then turn the mixer to medium speed until the cheese mixture is smooth. Put the mixing bowl in the fridge for 1 hour to chill. 
  • Shape: Lay out a square of plastic wrap on the counter, and put the chilled mixture on top. Then gather the plastic wrap around it to form the mixture into a ball shape. Then add the remaining ½ cup of pecans to the large bowl. Roll the cream cheese ball in the nuts to finish. 
  • Refrigerate: Cover the finished cheese ball in plastic wrap. Then store it in the fridge for 4 hours before serving with your favorite crackers. 
Cranberry Pecan Cheese Ball on serving tray with crackers

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Can you use different cheeses for this Cheese Ball recipe?

You can replace the white cheddar cheese in the recipe with another kind of cheese, or add in your favorite cheese variety along with the cheddar. Swiss cheese, pepper jack, mozzarella, blue cheese, and goat cheese would taste amazing. 

Can I make mini cheese balls for individual appetizers?

Instead of making one big Cranberry Pecan Cheese Ball, you can make multiple mini cheese balls. Use a cookie scoop to form the mixture, roll each of them in pecans, and refrigerate to finish. Then you can put the mini cheese balls out with dip-ins for everyone to take their own. 

What else can be mixed into this Cheese Ball recipe?

You can try using different kinds of nuts and fruit mix-ins. Chopped almonds, walnuts, or macadamia nuts would work well. For fruit, you can mix in raisins, dried figs, or dried apricots. 

MORE CRANBERRY SNACKS

HOW TO STORE CRANBERRY PECAN CHEESE BALL

  • Serve: Due to the cream cheese and other dairy products in this recipe, you don’t want to leave it at room temperature for more than 2 hours. 
  • Store: Cover the Cranberry Pecan Cheese Ball in plastic wrap to keep it in the fridge for up to 3 days. 
  • Freeze: Though cheese balls taste better fresh, if you have too much leftover you can keep it in the freezer. Wrap the cheese ball and seal it in a plastic bag. Then it can keep for up to 1 month.
Cranberry Pecan Cheese Ball on serving tray with crackers and cut open

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Cranberry Pecan Cheese Ball

Cranberry Pecan Cheese Ball is a great snack for a holiday party. Serve the soft creamy, savory, and sweet cheeseball with crackers to share!
Yield 12 Servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 5 hours 10 minutes
Course Appetizer
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 8 oz cream cheese , softened
  • 1 1/2 cups white cheddar cheese , shredded
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries , chopped
  • 1/2 cup pecans , chopped
  • 4 green onions , thinly sliced (green part only)
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

To Finish:

  • 1/2 cup pecans , finely chopped

Instructions

  • To a large stand mixer on low speed add the cream cheese, white cheddar cheese, cranberries, first ½ cup pecans, green onions and garlic powder until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.
  • Put mixture in the refrigerator for 1 hour to chill.
  • Lay a large plastic wrap square on your counter and put the mixture on it, then gather the sides and bunch them up to help shape the mixture into a ball.
  • Add the remaining ½ cup finely chopped pecans to a large bowl and roll the cheese ball into the chopped pecans then serve with crackers.
  • Best if served after 4 hoursrefrigeration.

Nutrition

Calories: 169kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 25mg | Sodium: 177mg | Potassium: 108mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 290IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 139mg | Iron: 1mg
Keyword: Cranberry Pecan cheese Ball
Cranberry Pecan Cheese Ball Collage

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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